374 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
mark 20 or 30 of those which have thick, long, fine wool, 
free from gum or jar, or any appearance of coarse wool 
or hair on the flank or tail. The female part of the in 
crease of this selection are preserved; without this at¬ 
tention to marking the best ewes before shearing, the 
best of the flock will be disposed of after shearing. I 
give my 100 ewes six quarts of corn per day. My lambs 
seldom have any grain. The remainder of the flock 
have no grain. All are housed in the winter, and have 
access to good water and salt at all times. I have many 
ewes which from old age shear light fleeces. Yet my 
whole flock of over 300, yield 4 lbs. 4 ounces per head. 
1 have no 10 to 13 lb. fleeces. My heaviest buck fleece, 
weighed 8| lbs. 
There is but little known as to the weight of wool 
from the weight of the fleece. I tried the experiment 
once upon two bucks. One weighed over 8 lbs., ami 
the other 6| lbs., both in the same order and washed 
alike. The largest fleece weighed after being cleansed, 
34 lbs., and the other 4 lbs. I do not believe a fine 
wooled sheep can be produced in Vermont, that will in 
one year yield 6 lbs. well cleansed wool. I hope your 
correspondents will send you the amount of the fleece 
well cleansed, and the price their wool brings this year. 
I sold my last year’s clip the 8th of last March, and this 
year’s clip last month. The average price of both clips 
is 39| cents. During the last seven years it is as follows: 
My clip of 1842 and 1843 sold in 1843, at 34, 36, 43, 45, 
46, ami 70 cents. 
If the wool-grower will look back to the prices of 
those years, he will find the tariff has had but little effect 
lished; each lot is assorted by the fleece agreeable to 
such standard; the sorts are carefully weighed and enter¬ 
ed in a memorandum-book; the lot is then placed by it¬ 
self ready for the manufacturer, who can select such 
lots as suit. The value of each can be readily decided 
upon; the purchaser knows just what he is buying, and 
the grower gets the relative value of his wool, coarse or 
fine, be it high or low. 
Another great advantage would eventually accrue to 
both manufacturer and grower. By a proper discrimi¬ 
nation and price, the manufacturers could induce the 
growth of just the style and quality most desirable, while 
if the present system is continued, eventually nearly all 
the fine sheep will be superceded by those of middling 
grades, which pay better. 
! The wool-growing interest has become one scarcely 
I inferior to any other in the Northern States, but has as 
;yet been managed in a very loose way. Some good sys- 
jlem should be adopted to effect equitable sales, and if a 
jbetter one can be proposed than the one I am urging, I 
|hope it will be, through the columns of the Cultivator. 
I would also suggest that the wool-growers hold a 
|convention in Albany during the coming winter, to dis- 
icuss the subject and agree upon some plan for universal 
Jadoption. What say my brother wool-growers? Will 
you answer through the next Cultivator? Let us keep 
the “ ball rolling ” until some plan is devised to accom¬ 
plish so desirable an object. A Wool-Grower. 
CORN, APPLES AND POTATOES. 
Mr. L. Tucker—H erewith I send you nine varieties 
upon the prices. This jumping out and into ship at / T , ™ ewiu 1 e c Mue11 
every session of Congress, is what ruins the wool-grow- ! of I " d,an £ 0rn 7 el & ht ° f A[,pl * s; the Pounl1 , Sweetl ," T 
jtwo Sour Russets, the Honey Russet, the riches apple I 
ever tasted; the Bellflower, Spitzenburg, Seek-no-further, 
-gr< 
er. He must expect ups and downs In prices; that is the 
lot of all. I fear not the west. The increase of sheep 
(fine sheep,) does not keep pace with the increase of 
population. Fine sheep never can survive the cold rains . , , 
of the western prairies. Fine wool yields a better profit|j! e1 ’ whl ? h 18 s ^ a , rce > Rowing only m two orchards to my 
and Daniel apple. The two last, from grafts at eight 
jyears since. They are all winter apples, except the Dan- 
to the farmer even at this time than any other agricultural | Ii '>owledge. They are a first-rate apple, ami stand at the 
-..... — . * 0 fnn i \ r Iho moriraf m 
business. This is the first time I have spoken. There¬ 
fore please excuse my long yarn. 
John S. Pettibone. 
Manchester, Vermont, Oct. 28th, 1845. 
IMPORTANCE OF WOOL DEPOTS. 
Mr. Editor —I have been surprised to learn that the 
plan of a Wool Depot as established at Kinderhook, does 
not meet the approbation of many of the manufacturers. 
Why, I can hardly conceive. 
Great injustice is done for the want of descrimination 
between fine and inferior grades. For years the fine 
wool-grower has struggled on under the delusive hope 
held out to him by the manufacturer of renumerating 
prices; but vain has been and will be that hope, unless 
some system is universally adopted, which shall cause this 
difference to be made, for the manufacturers frankly admit 
that they cannot buy from farm to farm and make it, be¬ 
cause every man is prone to think his wool about as good 
as his neighbor’s. Admit, for the sake of the argument 
that the manufacturers are honestly disposed to pay the 
grower all his wool is fairly worth to them, does the 
present system do justice? All must admit that it does 
not. Why? Because the manufacturer does not himself 
visit the grower to buy, but sends an agent who has no 
other interest than to buy the wool cheap enough, upon 
the average, to meet his employer’s views. Every reader 
can call to mind numerous instances of reckless agents, 
buying with an utter want of discrimination, the only 
apparent rule being “ buy as you can,” but be sure and 
make the average low enough. 
That the interest of the manufacturer and wool-grower 
should be identical all admit. How it is to be made so 
is the question? Of all the plans to accomplish this, that 
of depots seems to me to be the most feasible. Establish 
in localities where sufficient wool can be readily brought 
together, and of convenient access to the purchaser. 
What can be more just or equitable than for the wool- 
growers of a section to deposite their wool with a faith¬ 
ful and competent agent, to sell at the fair market price? 
As I understand the plan, a standard of quality is estab¬ 
top of the market in Utica. 
I send also four varieties of Potatoes—the early and 
late Pink-eyes—the blue Pink-eye, and a variety of 
white, which I call “ Yorkers.” I wish you would try 
the blue pink-eye, and if you have any better variety, 
send me half a peck or so. I think my experience with 
potatoes shows the fallacy of the doctrine that potatoes 
run out. I have planted the pink-eyes for more than 20 
years, and for nine years on the same farm. 
Trenton, N. Y. Nov. 1845. Dairyman Farmer, 
Our correspondent has our thanks for the articles above 
]enumerated. They are fine specimens, and may be seen 
at our office. We will test the potatoe, but if we have 
any better, shall not be able to send them, unless Dairy¬ 
man Farmer will give us his name.— Ed. 
TO KILL RATS. 
Mr. L. Tucker —A subscriber in your last Cultiva¬ 
tor, requests the best manner of destroying rats. The 
following methods of destroying them, I copy from a 
very good work, entitled the “ Vermin Destroyer,” 
which may be of some service to your inquirer. Al¬ 
though I have abbreviated the description, it does not de¬ 
stroy its efficacy: 
Take an old fashioned wire trap in good order, smear 
the floor over with the oils of anniseed, carraway, and 
rhodium. This latter oil is very expensive and of a 
strong scent, therefore a very little of it should be used. 
Mix with them for bait, a few drops of the carraway oil, 
and set the trap for use. The scent of these oils will al¬ 
lure the rats into almost any kind of trap. Or by taking 
a handful of newly ground malt, mixed with a handfu 
of good sweet oatmeal, and an ounce of arsenic made 
up into pills and thrown into their holes, is a very effect¬ 
ual remedy. Care must be taken not place them in the 
way of poultry. If too much arsenic is used it will not 
kill them; it will only make them vomit up the poison. 
Many persons have found that a genuine Scotch slut terrier 
is first rate for giving the above vermin their quietus. 
The sluts are considered far superior to the dogs for the 
business. Iatology. 
Albany, Nov. 5, 1845. 
